


Offerings

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: Partners [58]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Established Relationship, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Her fathers are too loud in my head, I have serious difficulties processing how old Grace is, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-09 07:42:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17402837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: Sometimes a car is more than just a car.***Now with chapter 2******And chapter 3***





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> At this point, "canon" is nothing more to me than a series of loose suggestions for the fic universes that I consider to be the actual reality of these characters' lives. I'm considering adding a second chapter to this, so if you'd be interested in seeing it please let me know.

Even a grade A daughter like Grace didn’t text her father all that often, so it was something of a surprise to see her name pop up on his phone as he and Junior were leaving a witness’s house.

_Call ASAP. No one dead/injured. Don’t tell US_

He’d had better texts as a father, but he’d also had worse ones. The most alarming part was the bit at the end, where Grace didn’t want him to tell Uncle Steve about whatever was going on. He was generally the calmer parent of the two of them, and Danny’s mind boggled as it tried to imagine a situation Grace could possibly be in where _Steve_ would be the one to go ballistic.

Since Steve wasn’t here at the moment, though, now was the best time to call. Asking Junior to give him a minute – he liked the kid, but it felt disloyal to let him in on family drama that Steve had been specifically forbidden from participating in – he ducked around a corner and called Grace. “Thank you for the injury report, or you might have given me a heart attack.”

“I didn’t want you panicking. Panicking distracts you.” There was the sound of a door shutting, like she was ducking into a bathroom stall. “And you are _seriously_ the only person on the planet who can appreciate the crisis I’m in right now.”

His mind tried once again to spin through the various possibilities, not liking any of the ones that even vaguely seemed to fit. “This has nothing to do with the alleged high school bookmaking scheme your aunt told you about, right? The one I was absolutely _not_ involved in?”

She made an exasperated noise. “Of course not. Focus. Have I been totally been misreading the signs that Uncle Steve is planning on giving me a car for graduation? A beat up one that we can work on fixing up together?”

Danny went still. Steve _had_ been thinking about doing that for Grace’s graduation, chewing the idea over with an eagerness and uncertainty that was both adorable and broke Danny’s heart a little bit. He’d wondered whether it would be a good idea to feel Grace out on the idea – he knew she’d love anything Steve gave her, but she’d never shown any interest in car repair – but he wasn’t surprised she’d beaten him to the punch. “Let’s call that a cautious yes, though I will deny it if you tell him I said that.”

He heard a thunk that sounded suspiciously like Grace’s forehead hitting the stall wall, and suddenly her voice went very small. “Mom says Stan’s getting me a car for graduation, too.”

Shit. Shit shit shit. Danny had been worried about that – he and Stan were doing weirdly better ever since he and Rachel and gotten divorced, mostly because they hardly ever spoke to one another – but he hadn’t wanted to burst Steve’s bubble without reason. Still, letting him get even deeper into the idea and having to cut it off would be worse. “I can be the one to break the news to Steve, if you want.”

“No!” Danny was surprised by the vehemence in Grace’s voice, and from the sound of quick, muffled conversation someone else in the bathroom was, too. When Grace got back on the phone again, her voice was a furious whisper. “I _want_ Uncle Steve’s car! Do you know how much prime bonding time that’s going to be? I’m going to college this fall, and even though it’s just at UHM I’m going to miss so much family stuff! I—”

Danny could feel a “my little girl is growing up” panic attack coming on, which was unacceptable. He was only allowed to have those when Steve was immediately nearby, and could either talk him down or kiss him brainless and distract him. “Okay, okay, I get the picture. Stop reminding me how old you are.” Then he thought about the rest of what she’d been saying, chest warming. “So you’re trying to figure out how to keep _Stan_ from giving you a car.”

“Yes!” There was relief and guilt in her voice in equal measure. “I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but I don’t really need _any_ car ever since Nahele helped me find a deal on that old Pontiac. A new car isn’t going to give me any cool points after I graduate, and it won’t be an experience the same way Uncle Steve’s will.” She hesitated, an unsteadiness in her voice that hurt his heart. “I don’t really have experiences with Stan anymore.”

Danny was suddenly, fiercely tempted to call up Stan and yell at him for not paying enough attention to Grace, which was such a dramatic reversal from most of the last decade that it made his head spin. “I’m not sure I’m really the best person to talk to him about this.”

“Who else am I going to ask? Mom?” Grace sighed. “She didn’t like when I bought the Pontiac. I think she was looking forward to me getting a car that actually had a warranty.”

Yeah, he remembered that argument. “I’m the last person you want to have explaining this to your mother.”

“I don’t want her to hear about it at _all_. Can’t you just call Stan and try to talk him into giving me something else?”

Danny sighed. “I might end up yelling at him a little bit for not paying enough attention to you.”

He wondered, briefly, what the Danny Williams of nine years ago would say to that. If he could have even imagined a life where he had so much love being poured out to him on a daily basis that he would actually fight for Grace to spend time with the man he’d seen as the enemy for so long.

“That’s okay. You like yelling.” The relief in Grace’s voice was obvious, and some “dad” instinct deep in Danny’s soul preened over the fact that he could still solve at least some of her problems. “Just don’t tell him it’s because of Uncle Steve.”

Danny gave her a wry look even though he knew she couldn’t see it. “Do I look like an idiot?”

He could hear her smile. “Sorry I doubted your judgment.” Distantly, there was the sound of a bell ringing. “I’ve got to go. Love you.”

They ended the call just as Junior peered around the corner. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“Surprisingly, yes.” He tucked his phone back into his pocket. “Emotional maturity is a very strange thing, sometimes.”

Junior sagely nodded his head. “I imagine it can be.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm considering one more chapter, where Steve actually gives Grace the car.

The longer Danny spent trying to figure out what the hell he was going to say to Stan, the more awkward it was going to be. So he waited until he had the place to himself, shut his office door, and dialed.

Surprisingly, Stan answered on the second ring. "Is everything okay? Did something happen to Grace?"

The sheer worry in his voice reminded Danny of the moment years before, when he'd agreed to let Danny shoot him in order to save Grace. The thought scattered what little planning he'd managed to do, approaching the situation the same way he'd want in Stan's place. "She's sad you're not spending enough time with her, for one thing."

There was silence on the other end of the phone. "She's the one who told you that?" he asked quietly, three or four different layers to the question.

Danny recognized at least a few of them. An ex-wife's commentary on how the kids were or weren't feeling had to be taken with a grain of salt, especially if it was coming through the previous ex-husband. Danny would never have let himself be used as a go-between like that, but he'd interfered in their marriage often enough (he didn't regret anything to do with Grace, but from the distance of years he could admit the affair was an asshole thing to do) he could see why Stan wasn't sure.

Information straight from the kid, however, was gospel. "Yes, she is." He sighed, acknowledging what Grace hadn't quite said. "My kid misses you, Stan."

There was more silence, and in the distance something that sounded dangerously close to a sniffle. Danny understood, but he was not at all prepared for Stan to start crying on him. Damn it, maybe he should have waited for Chin to get back so he could hand the phone off if need be.

When Stan finally got back on the phone, however, his voice was just a little thick. "I don't have any rights to Grace." He let out an unsteady breath. "It's tough enough to get time with Charlie."

Shit. He knew how that was. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't fight for it. If Grace knew you were trying, you know she'd help make it happen."

"I hadn't, actually." If it hadn't mostly been self-recrimination in Stan's voice, Danny would have had to get pissed at him again. "You were always right there. I assumed..." He cleared his throat. "I assumed I was an unnecessary backup."

He leaned forward. "I'm not going to apologize for holding onto my kid, Stan. You of all people should know how important that is."

Stan swore softly. "You're right, I'm sorry." He hesitated. "Why are you telling me all this? I thought you hated me."

Well, if they were suddenly both being honest with each other... "You were in my spot. Of course I hated you." Then he let out a breath. "But eventually I realized that I had to leave what I thought was my spot to get to the place I really belonged, and out turns out that came with a whole bunch of maturity and emotional growth I hadn't really planned on."

"It sounds nice." Stan's voice had a definite wistful edge to it.

"I'd go with unnerving, actually." He lifted his head to find Steve perched on the edge of his desk listening. He'd like to blame the NinjaSEAL skills for the fact that he hadn't even heard the damn door open and close, but the truth was that he was so comfortable with Steve that his brain no longer really registered him as "other."

The warmth and pride in Steve's eyes made Danny's throat tighten as he continued. "I know Rachel can be... Rachel, but if you call Grace directly and tell her you've got something planned then it'll be a hell of a lot harder for her to block it." His brain, remembering why this call had even happened in the first place, offered a helpful suggestion. "Maybe take her on a trip for graduation somewhere." The suggestion put a twinge deep in Danny's gut, an old reflex that insisted that he couldn't let Stan and his money show him up again. He ignored it. "Just the two of you."

The twinge eased as Steve came around the deck, rubbing a gentle hand along the back of Danny's neck. Danny closed his eyes, reaching behind him to rub the most accessible part of Steve's arm in gratitude.

On the other end of the phone, Stan was sounding emotional again. "That's a really great idea. I'll call Grace now and ask her where she wants to go." He paused. "Thank you, Danny. Whatever reason you're doing this, thank you."

Danny closed his eyes. "We both love her. These days, that's enough to make you an okay guy in my book." Then he hung up the phone before he could be forced to say anything else traumatizing, leaning forward until his forehead rested against his desk. "This whole becoming a better person thing is terrible," he muttered. "I do not approve in the _slightest_."

"We'll lodge a formal complaint." He could hear the smile in Steve's voice as he sat down on the edge of the desk closest to Danny. "I'm still proud of you, though."

"That's because you're Superman." Danny shifted his head so that his cheek was resting against Steve's hip. "You get brain damage along with the cape."

Steve's hand slid upward so that he was petting Danny's hair. "And you want to fix the entire world for our kids, even if that means reaching out to someone you used to hate."

 _I'd fix the entire world for you, too, if I could ever figure out how to manage it._ But that was a heavier conversation than he had the energy for at the moment, so he just snuggled closer. "Warn me when we're about to get an audience, okay?"

Steve's voice was soft. "I can do that."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is actually set after "Family Portrait," (the next fic in the series), but like in previous fic I like to keep chapters following the same storyline together under a single banner.

Danny did _not_ cry, no matter what the circumstances were. That had been true for years, but with Grace's high school graduation only days away there had already been a few times when he'd come close to breaking that longstanding rule. He was pretty sure he'd be screwed when the actual graduation happened, but Grace would be distracted by her friends and he knew Steve and Brandon wouldn't rat on him.

The ceremony, however, fell on one of Rachel's weeks, so they were currently gathering outside tying one of Danny's old ties around Grace's head as a blindfold. The car was in the garage, having arrived the night before thanks to a healthy bribe to both Kamekona and Flippa. It was, as far as Danny could gather, completely non-functional, which normally would be a disaster but in this case would give Grace and Steve that much more opportunity to work on it together.

Danny leaned close to Grace's ear as he made sure the knot was secure. "Remember, all of this is a complete surprise to you."

"They'll never know I figured it out in advance," she whispered back, reaching up to find Danny's wrist and giving it a squeeze. "Sorry you're still suffering with it, though. I heard the fight you had on the phone with Mom."

He pressed a kiss against the side of her head. "Anything for you, Monkey." Rachel had been less than thrilled with the change in Stan's graduation gift, guessing that Danny had something to do with it when she discovered it had been scheduled during one of her weeks. (Danny didn't know if it had been a fuck you to Rachel or a thank you to him, but whatever the reason he was grateful.) "Besides, I'm pretty sure Stan's been fielding worse arguments."

Grace nodded. "They do it at night after Charlie's gone to sleep. It'll probably get worse when he actually flies out here for graduation, but--"

She stopped talking as Brandon ran over, out of breath and possibly even more excited than Steve was. "Are you ready, Grace?" he asked, practically bouncing. "Daddy says it's time for me and Danno to bring you over!"

"I'm definitely ready," Grace said, holding out a hand in Brandon's direction. He took it, eagerly pulling her forward, and Danny let himself take a moment to savor the absolute joy radiating out of his son. There were still echoes of Brandon's earlier years -- he hated to see people fighting, and tended to try and forcibly stop it whether it was a bully on the playground or a couple fighting in the grocery store -- but he was mostly a really happy, loving kid. Even for Danny, it was _really_ hard to be in a bad mood in Brandon's presence.

But Danny couldn't help but be a little bit of a worrier, no matter how happy he was, so he also guided Grace by the shoulders as the three of them crossed the relatively short distance to the garage. Steve was waiting just inside the open garage door, the tarp the car had been under already pulled away. He looked almost as excited as Brandon had, with that edge of nerves that Danny suspected was a hell of a lot stronger than Steve was letting show.

He'd had Danny approve the car before he bought it, both for quality and coolness points. Despite that fact, he'd still needed a healthy dose of reassurance the night before that it hadn't been a stupid idea and Grace was going to love it. Danny had needed to repeat himself more than once, but he was happy to do it. They'd both come into this marriage with a hell of a lot of baggage, and they always tried to be gentle with the truckload of insecurities the other person was dragging along.

When they were in position, Brandon let go of Grace and turned around so he could see her face. Then he waved Danny over, waiting until he'd gotten into a position where he could see Grace's face as well, then threw his hands up in the air. "You can take off the blindfold now! Time to see your present!"

Grace pulled down the blindfold, her face lighting up brighter than the sunlight. "It's beautiful!" She ran forward, laying her hands on the hood. "It's a GTO, right?"

Danny's chest squeezed tight. He hadn't known she'd been researching classic cars in preparation for this.

Steve's face lit up as bright as Grace's had, but Danny knew better than anyone that worry wasn't quite that easy to shake. "I know it's a fixer-upper, but it's in really good shape and between the two of us I'm sure we can--"

Grace cut him off by throwing her arms around him. "I love it, Uncle Steve. I'm _so_ excited that I get to work on it with you, just like you and your dad."

The words eased the last bit of worry off of Steve's face, and there were tears in his eyes as he wrapped Grace in the tightest hug he could. Watching this, Brandon leaned against Danny's leg with a happy sigh. "I'll wait for Daddy to show me about cars when I get older."

Danny felt a burst of only slightly wry amusement as he picked up his son. "You know I know about cars, too, right?"

Brandon just smiled and leaned his head against Danny's shoulder. "Then you can both show me."

Danny rested his own cheek against Brandon's hair, heart so full there shouldn't have been room inside him to hold it all. "Sounds good to me."

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my [original fiction,](https://jennifferwardell.wixsite.com/mybooks) my [blog,](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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